The White Tiger

Aravind Adiga

Balram leaves village life to work as a driver for a wealthy family, gaining a close view of the comfort and power he has been taught to serve. His account of becoming an entrepreneur is funny, furious and increasingly disturbing, as ambition tests the limits of what he is willing to do.

Adiga turns journeys between rural poverty and urban wealth into an examination of class, corruption and social mobility. The car gives Balram access to another India without making him part of it. His voice carries the reader through the contradictions of a country promising opportunity while keeping many of its people in their place.

Class; Ambition; Corruption; Social mobility; Screen adaptation; Family